JNPT proposes economic zone on 1,200ha land

Mumbai: Following in the footsteps of Adani Group-promoted Mundra Port and special economic zone (SEZ), several other entities are planning to set up similar facilities at Indian ports.

Union government-run Jawaharlal Nehru Port Trust (JNPT), India’s biggest container port, plans to set up a port-based SEZ/export processing zone (EPZ) on 1,200ha of land at the port.

The port authorities have floated a tender to hire a consultant to draw up a master plan for the proposed port-based SEZ/EPZ keeping in view a synergy with port operations, said a JNPT official who did not want to be named.

Jawaharlal Nehru Port, which started commercial operations in 1989, had acquired 2,500ha of land for its long-term requirements. Out of this, 1,300ha have been utilized so far for port-related activities.

Taking into account the traffic growth, the port had earlier prepared a plan for the balance 1,200ha for use as container freight station, empty container yard, warehousing and cold storage, tank farm, truck, trailers and tanker terminals with repairing facilities and other ancillary facilities.

The port is designed to handle 50 million tonnes (mt) of cargo a year. It processed 44.81mt of cargo in the 12 months to March 2007.

This includes 3.29 million twenty-foot equivalent units (TEUs) of container cargo. A TEU is the standard size of a container and is a common measure of capacity in the container business.

The official said that the port has been receiving requests from private companies seeking allotment of unutilized land for operational activities.

The City and Industrial Development Corporation of Maharashtra Ltd or Cidco, a Maharashtra government agency that is tasked with executing development projects in the state, had carried out a feasibility study for effective use of land at the Jawaharlal Nehru Port.